The Leader's Chariot
by NotebookStories
Summary: Persona 4, Souji/Chie. Every leader needs a chariot, and a bear to move said chariot.


December 8th, 2011--as usual, Souji entered his empty home once again on another cold, foggy evening. He still wasn't used to the fact that Nanako wasn't there to greet him.

Despite the dire situation that was in front of them, things were finally looking up--Nanako and Dojima were slowly recovering, they had finally figured out the mastermind behind this mess and he even managed to get the top ten scores on his recent exam!

"So why," He asked himself. "Why don't I feel like celebrating?" He slouched on the wall and began to think. True, it was far from celebration time as they all had a lot of work to do in such a short time, but still it felt almost confusing--as if he could've easily avoided all of this from happening.

"Why Nanako?" He kept saying to himself. "I mean, I understand how she get involved, but why did she get involved? She had nothing to do with the murder case or the Midnight Channel. If Uncle got kidnapped I'd still be upset, but at least it would've made a little more sense as he was connected to the murders as an investigator, but Nanako herself wasn't connected to any of this at all!"

He began torturing himself. "This first person to consider me their brother... and I even couldn't do anything to protect them from the mess I got myself into."

"Now that I think about it, there were other times where my own mistakes could've cost the lost of my friends." He started to think back to all of his adventures in the Midnight Channel where one of his friends had to help him out in a dire situation.

He laughed. "I call myself a leader? I can't even protect my own friends and family! What's the point of me having the 'wild card' in the first place? I have all of these damn persona at my arsenal, and I couldn't even help save my own little sister!"

Souji curled up in a little ball on the living room floor and tears ran down his face. "I'm pathetic. Maybe I should just quit being their leader. I'm sure they can get on without me at this point. They've grown stronger than I could ever have."

"HEY!"

A familiar voice snapped Souji out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw a very angry Chie looking down on him.

"Did I just hear that you were planning on leaving us?"

"Chie? But how did you--?"

"Souji, are you really going to abandon us, after all we've been through?"

"I... I..." Souji was at a loss of words. Chie eventually realized that Souji was really in shock.

"Hey, calm down, okay?" Chie said as she got Souji up and sat down on the couch.

"You must think I'm lame, huh?" Souji said.

"No, I just think you're stressed. A-and who wouldn't be? With everything that's going on I doubt most people would've been able to stay as calm as you did."

Souji took a deep breath. "Did you hear all of that?"

"Well, most of it." Chie laughed nervously.

Souji chuckled. "Y'know, this is actually the first time I've been alone in my house for awhile. My parents worked a lot so I was usually by myself most of the time. It was strange having someone greet me everyday, but I eventually got used to it. When you move around as much as I do, it's hard to get attached to people."

"True." Chie said. "I always heard that when people are alone, they're more likely to go insane unless they have something to do. Boredom is the root of all evil as they say."

"Did you learn that from one of your kung-fu movies?" Souji teased.

"No." Chie said. "And you're certainly feeling better already."

"Sorry." Souji said. "I guess I just really regret not being able to protect Nanako from all of this."

"Hey, we all are." Chie said as she held Souji's hand. "But the important thing is that she's safe, right? And besides, what good role model would she be if she saw you like this?"

Souji chuckled. "Heh. A role model... I never figured someone would call me that."

"But it's true! We can't go on to catch the culprit without you. You're our friend, Souji..." Chie then started to blush. "And a bit more than that to some of us."

The two got closer to each other.

"Y'know, I can protect you too, y'know. So don't feel ashamed if you need someone to support on."

"I'll remember that." Souji said.

"You better!" Chie said.

"Thanks for helping me." Souji inched a little closer to Chie.

"I can return the favor... I mean, I know it's a school night and all but..." Chie started blushing madly. "It wouldn't be too b-bad if I stayed a little longer."

Things were suddenly heating up. Before they realized it Souji and Chie were already holding each other. Their lips were about to touch each oth--

"SEEEENSEEEEEIIIIII!"

Teddie came screaming and running in the house with his bear suit on. Both Souji and Chie let go of each other quickly.

"T-Teddie!" Chie said while gasping for air. "You scared me!"

"What's wrong, Teddie?" Souji asked.

"Oh, I just wanted to congratulate you on making the top ten on the test today!" Teddie smiled.

"Thanks Teddie." Souji said in a confused manner. "Uh, how did you come inside? For that matter, how did you come inside here Chie?"

"Oh that?" Chie said. "The door was open. I didn't see you after school or at Junes today so I decided to come by your house to see if everything was okay."

Souji had totally forgotten in his depressed state that he forgot to close the door when he came in.

"Did you know that Yosuke made in the bottom 25? If he were any lower, he'd probably have to stay back a year!" Teddie said with glee.

"That's... enough... out of you... bear..."

Yosuke entered Souji's house, gasping for air.

"Yosuke? What are you doing here?" Chie asked.

Yosuke caught up with his breath. "Ted here wanted to see Souji for some reason and ran all the way over here. Had I realized it was to brag about my grades, I would've stopped him sooner!"

"So you really did that bad, huh?" Chie smiled.

"Take that smile off of your face!" Yosuke scolded. "It's not like you did any better."

Yosuke examines the situation for the minute. "Hey, what are you doing here anyway, Chie?"

Chie got nervous. "Me? Oh... I was... uh..."

"She was helping me study." Souji said.

"Yeah, that! So I could do better on the next test!"

"Right." Yosuke said in disbelief.

"I heard that she was going to stay here all night with Sensei!" Teddie said.

"No I didn't!" Chie protested.

"All night? Why would--" Yosuke finally figured it out. "Oh... I get it. I knew there was something going on between you two!"

"I-I-It's not like that!" Chie started stammering. "Tell them, Souji."

"I-I-It's not like that!" Souji repeated.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything to anyone." Yosuke promised.

"You better not!" Chie threatened.

"Huh? What's going on?" Teddie asked, however, he eventually caught on and gasped. "Chie! I'm ashamed of you! And especially you Sensei!"

"What are you talking about?" Souji asked.

"Don't play dumb. I know Chie's cheating on Yosuke for you! The nose knows buster, and you've been busted!" Teddie said sternly.

"W-w-what!?" Chie got up.

"Me? Going out with Chie?! I don't know what happened to you, but I do know that your nose is very, very wrong!" Yosuke yelled.

"Yosuke, it's okay." Teddie consoled him. "You don't have to be in denial. Being cheated on is a very traumatic event. But it's okay, you'll always have me!"

"Even if Chie was cheating on me--which she's not because I would never go out with her in a million years--how is that supposed to make me feel better? And why are you even wearing that bear suit in the first place?"

"Details, details!" Teddie said.

Suddenly, Yukiko and Rise ran in the house.

"Senpai!" Rise squeaked. "Is everything okay?"

"We saw Yosuke riding the bike really fast when we were in the tofu shop, and we thought that maybe something had happened again." Yukiko said.

"Oh it's nothing." Teddie said. "Yosuke here was just admitting that he cheated on his exams."

"Gya--What!?" Yosuke stammered.

Rise gasped. "Yosuke, is that true?"

"I'm ashamed in you." Yukiko said to him.

"I didn't cheat on my exams!" Yosuke protested. "This bear here is just being stupid!"

"Now, now, you already admitted it. There's no use hiding it." Teddie said.

"You're gonna pay for this, bear." Yosuke growled.

"I can't believe you'd do something like that." Yukiko shook her head.

Guilt started to engulf both Souji and Chie.

"Stupid Teddie..." Chie said. "We should clear things up."

"Yeah." Souji whispered to Chie. "Uh, actually Yosuke didn't cheat on his test." He said to the others.

"Thank you, partner." Yosuke said.

Teddie gasped. "Did you cheat on your test? I'm very ashamed in you Sensei."

"What? Senpai, how could you!?" Rise said in shock.

"I didn't cheat on my test!" Souji cried out.

"Teddie, would you like me to fix that nose of yours?" Chie threatened.

"No, it's okay." Teddie said to her. "It has been a little runny though."

Then unexpectedly, Kanji came running in the house.

"Hey guys, I saw you all running to Senpai's house so--hey, is Naoto here yet?" He asked.

"No." Yukiko said to him.

"Oh. Good, because I actually wanted to ask her... er, her about the Shadows. They may attack the real world at any moment so we should get ready. Yeah. Gotta get ready for those Shadows."

An awkward silence fills the room.

"So, did you cheat on your test, Kanji?" Teddie asked him.

"Huh?" The question caught Kanji off guard.

"Don't answer him." Yosuke said.

Finally, Naoto arrived.

"Uh, hi." She said.

"Naoto, did you know that Yosuke cheated on his exam?" Yukiko said to her.

"I did not!" Yosuke yelled again.

"How can that be possible?" Naoto said. "Didn't he make one of the lowest grades on it? Logically speaking, if he did cheat on it, wouldn't his grade be a lot higher?"

Rise and Yukiko thought for a moment. "Oh yeah, that does make a lot of sense." Rise said.

"Yeah, if he cheated only to get one of the lowest grade then that'd be... funny... snrk..."

"Oh boy." Chie said.

"Hehehe... Ha ha ha... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" Yukiko was having another one of her laughing fits.

"Another mystery solved, team!" Teddie cheered on.

"What mystery!?" Yosuke said.

"So... uh, is there anything important that you had to say, leader?" Kanji said.

"Huh?" Souji said. "Me? Uh... no. It's just that, we'll start the search for the true culprit tomorrow after school."

"All right!" Kanji said. "It's time to take down that asshole once and for all!"

"And with Senpai leading, there's no way we'll lose!" Rise cheered.

"Yeah. We'll all counting on you, partner!" Yosuke said.

"I'm counting on you all too!" Souji said.

The group dispersed for the night and mentally prepared themselves to finally face the truth. As Teddie left, he gave Souji and Chie a wink.

"Why did he wink at us? Don't tell me he did all that for us?"

"He was probably thanking me in his own way, I suppose." Souji pondered.

"Thank you, for what?"

"Ah, it was just something I did for him the other day. I just wish he could've chosen a better way to do it."

"Well, that's Ted for you. Remind me never to do another favor for him again."

Souji started to laugh a little.

"Souji, you're not turning into Yukiko are you?"

"No, it's not that." He said. "I was just realizing I was being an idiot. Here I am, crying about whether I'm worthy as a leader and yet everyone here thinks the opposite of what I was thinking."

"Well duh." Chie said. "Wasn't it obvious from the start?"

"I guess so. I suppose you should go home. It is getting late."

"Actually," Chie said with a blushing face, "I can stay for a little bit longer."


End file.
